1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to agricultural planting equipment, and more specifically to depth gauging systems on grain drill opener assemblies and the like.
2) Related Art
Grain drill opener assemblies typically include a furrow opener for opening the soil and depositing seed in a furrow, and a trailing press wheel for firming the soil around the seed and maintaining the proper opener depth. A press wheel arm includes a forward end pivotally connected to the opener body and a rearward end supporting the press wheel. The angle of the arm relative to the opener body is adjustable to vary the planting depth as desired for differing soil conditions and seed types. Presently available depth gauging systems include threaded and gear types, and pin and clip types wherein parts are first removed to readjust the angle and then are reinstalled after the gauging wheel is repositioned. The threaded and gear types require much time to adjust from one end of the range to the other end, and with use often become very hard to manipulate because of corrosion. Most pin and clip types require two hands to adjust and have loose parts which are easily lost and are time consuming to remove and reinstall. Some other types of depth adjustment devices often have more than one pivot point, have contact points which change with adjustments in depth setting and do not provide a uniform adjustment over the range of settings. Commonly, the gauge wheel arm must be physically moved by hand to make adjustments.